Pleo is a new type of autonomous life form: a scientifically accurate dinosaur. Pleo looks, moves, sounds and behaves like a living creature. Fully aware and cognitive, he explores his environment and interacts with people, accessories and other Pleo dinosaurs.
Equipped with senses for sight, sounds and touch, Pleo processes numerous stimuli before expressing himself. He feels joy, sorrow, anger and annoyance with realistic dinosaur sounds. And when he's tired, Pleo gets drowsy and sleeps -- sometimes even dreams.
Pleo's sophisticated sensory system consists of nearly 40 devices that enable him to see, sense, touch and detect objects in order to move autonomously and explore his environment without requiring any remote control. This robotic dinosaur includes a color camera with a white-light sensor that allows him to detect bright light from dark, see colors, detect motion, track a moving object, and perceive objects in front of him. This unit also includes microphones on the left and right that give him stereophonic hearing, allowing him to detect sound direction and loudness through both ears. An infrared receiver and transmitter allows Pleos to identify, communicate and interact with one another, while another infrared interrupter allows Pleo to detect when something is being placed in his mouth. Meanwhile eight touch sensors on his chin, shoulder, legs, back and head are triggered by touch and allow him to "feel." This dinosaur has skin that is constructed of a custom-formulated, soft thermoplastic material that's painted with an incredibly realistic and lifelike coloration.
The Pleo Life Form has over 100 custom-designed gears, and 14 motors for highly-articulated movement. Each motor has a force feedback sensor that makes them sensitive to forceful grabs at the dinosaur's legs, neck, tail and torso, causing him to shut down during trauma to avoid internal damage. Pleo will actually react to being hurt, perhaps exhibiting a limp, and can recover over time depending on the level of nurturing you exhibit. Ground sensors allow Pleo to know when a foot is on a solid surface or when he has been picked up, while tilt and shake sensors allow him to know if he has fallen or is being held upside down. The sensors will also wake him up after he has "fallen asleep." Front and rear speakers enable Pleo to communicate via cute honks and hoots, as well as other fun and natural sounds.
Pleo has two 32-bit microprocessors for central and image processing, and four 8-bit sub-processors for motor control. This robotic life form also has multiple built-in data ports, including a mini USB port for online downloads, an SD card slot for Pleo add-ons, and the infrared transceiver that allows Pleo-to-Pleo communications.
Just like a real animal, his behavior cannot always be predicted. Pleo has internal motivations to eat, drink, rest, seek social interaction and more.
The Pleo robot weighs 3.5 pounds, and stands about 7.5 inches high and 21 inches long when on all fours. Pleo is rated E for Everyone and is designed for children over eight, teens and adults. Pleo requires 4 NiMH batteries, included.
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